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[Sparrowhawk]

I started at 20 and am currently 27 and trying to quit. Nearly all of my friends started at 15-16.

This law strikes me as incredibly silly and useless.

Don't "try", just do it - you'll feel incredible once the headaches and cravings are gone.

 

[Caddywompus]

This is a law to gain more tax paying tobacco users. The longer you are told you can't do something at that age the more appealing it becomes. And when you factor in how addictive tobacco is you're going to hook a ton more teens for longer.

 

[Kurita]

Don't really see the point. I don't know a lot of teenagers (myself included) who waited the legal age to get cigarettes and booze.

 

[Walpurgis]

This is a waste of time. I'm pretty sure the minimum age is 18 where I live but many kids in my high school were already smoking. There were enough that the school had a rule that all smokers would smoke in the teacher's parking lot. Under-aged students would be smoking beside teachers between classes.

If they really want to end smoking, they should register all current smokers and everyone who wants to be a smoker. Then they should only sell cigarettes to these people. After that, they should assist these people in quitting but if they don't, smoking should be over within the next 60 years when they're all dead.

I will never understand how marijuana is illegal but tobacco isn't.

 

[Acorn]

Young people don't smoke much anymore anyway atleast here. They are smarter than I was/am.

Although I didn't even try or get hooked until legal age anyway.

 

[Acorn]

This is a waste of time. I'm pretty sure the minimum age is 18 where I live but many kids in my high school were already smoking. There were enough that the school had a rule that all smokers would smoke in the teacher's parking lot. Under-aged students would be smoking beside teachers between classes.

If they really want to end smoking, they should register all current smokers and everyone who wants to be a smoker. Then they should only sell cigarettes to these people. After that, they should assist these people in quitting but if they don't, smoking should be over within the next 60 years when they're all dead.

I will never understand how marijuana is illegal but tobacco isn't.

Wtf?

Smokers=isis apparently. Legal id should suffice just like for everything else.

 

[Walpurgis]

Wtf?

Smokers=isis apparently. Legal id should suffice just like for everything else.

I didn't mean to give that impression. I just feel that smoking is bad and for the people that already smoke, it would suck to just cut them off. However, for those that do not smoke, I think the opportunity to become a smoker should be minimised.

 

[Kinokou]

Cool, take note Norway!

I'm okay with bumping all the adult things back to 21. Splitting drinking, smoking, draft eligibility, voting, etc. between ages is when it gets dumb.

You are not including driving? That is set at 18 too in many countries.

 

[KRod-57]

It's pretty insulting when we allow individuals to join the military at 18, but we still don't treat them as adults.

 

[Acorn]

I didn't mean to give that impression. I just feel that smoking is bad and for the people that already smoke, it would suck to just cut them off. However, for those that do not smoke, I think the opportunity to become a smoker should be minimised.

Sure but where do we draw the line, there is a tonne of stuff that horrible for people. Most people trying cigs don't buy them randomly they try someone else's, it wouldn't have the desired effect.

Like I said young people are killing the cig industry just now anyway, it's niche as hell.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Where did that goofy ass military comparison start lol

Anyway, if someone has decided to pay the government to take part in their slow decay, have a ball at whatever age

 

[Theanine3D]

Every smoker I knew growing up started the habit well before 18. My brother started while he was in middle school.

I appreciate what this legislation is trying to do, I really do, but I don't think it's going to make a significant difference.

 

[Walpurgis]

Sure but where do we draw the line, there is a tonne of stuff that horrible for people. Most people trying cigs don't buy them randomly they try someone else's, it wouldn't have the desired effect.

Like I said young people are killing the cig industry just now anyway, it's niche as hell.

That's a good point. The worst thing would be cutting access from people who require it. Legislators can work out the details, the bottom line is that something new needs to be done. I don't think that waiting for tobacco to fall into obscurity is something that we can depend on. Those tobacco companies are very resilient.

 

[AngryMoth]

Conflicted feelings on this topic.

On the one hand, I feel drug laws should be much more lax and people should be free to take what they want within reason.

But on the other, I just really don't get smoking and think as a society we should be trying to move away from it. It's not like you get any sort of high from it, the only reason anybody starts is for social reasons, to 'look cool' or because their friends are doing it or whatever. From what I understand the only reason people think it relieves stress is because it relieves the stress of needing a cigarette. And it's so goddam bad for you, it's creates such a huge and unnecessary burden on the health services.

 

[Concrete Charlie]

Smoking is gross. Legal age should be 65, like retirement.

 

[gutter_trash]

ban tobacco....................

replace it with weed

 

[RDreamer]

I mean, I get that, but shouldn't we then also wait until someone's brain is developed and they are mature before letting them commit years of their life to the military?

Or sign up for 30 year loans from the fucking sharks that sell them...

 

[Frozenprince]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2424288/

"Regular cannabis use predicts an increased risk of schizophrenia, and the relationship persists after controlling for confounding variables. The relationship is unlikely to be explained by self-medication. There is increasing evidence that the association is biologically plausible, but given the complex nature of the aetiology of schizophrenia and related disorders, it is unlikely that the relationship will be due to an interaction between cannabis use and a single gene. Uncertainty about the biological mechanisms should not distract us from using educational, psychological and social interventions to reduce the use of cannabis by vulnerable young people and thereby the risk of problems related to its use. "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24904437

"... Exposure to cannabinoids in adolescence confers a higher risk for psychosis outcomes in later life and the risk is dose-related. Individuals with polymorphisms of COMT and AKT1 genes may be at increased risk for psychotic disorders in association with cannabinoids, as are individuals with a family history of psychotic disorders or a history of childhood trauma. The relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia fulfills many but not all of the standard criteria for causality, including temporality, biological gradient, biological plausibility, experimental evidence, consistency, and coherence. At the present time, the evidence indicates that cannabis may be a component cause in the emergence of psychosis, and this warrants serious consideration from the point of view of public health policy. "

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscen...ve-abnormal-brain-structure--poor-memory.html

"Marijuana Users Have Abnormal Brain Structure and Poor Memory
Drug abuse appears to foster brain changes that resemble schizophrenia"

etc etc

Again those links don't refute what I say. They point out a correlation "emergence" is a key word to notice there.

It's a precipitating event. Not a causative effect.

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/adb-adb0000103.pdf

 

[Angelus Errare]

Not really. A 18 year old millennial is not an adult. Hell not even at 21 or 30 even. On the other hand, a 18 year-old boomer is certainly an adult.

wha? A 30 year old isn't an adult? wha?

I mean, I get that, but shouldn't we then also wait until someone's brain is developed and they are mature before letting them commit years of their life to the military?

Or sign up for 30 year loans from the fucking sharks that sell them...

Student loans? Psh you should do your research and know what you want to do in life! You're an adult!!

The concept of what an adult is in America is based on what's profitable most of the time.

 

[Angelus Errare]

dp

 

[Frozenprince]

wha? A 30 year old isn't an adult? wha?

Pretty sure it was a joke at how when the baby boomers (the people running the country now) were 18 they were just as shitty and immature as 18 year olds now, but suddenly things need to change because reasons.

Edit: CAN'T HIDE YO SHAME FROM ME.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

I'm not terribly much a fan of smoking, but I'm also not a fan of moving legal age to do certain activities up past legal adult age. If you can die for this country in war or get tried as an adult in court, I think you should be able to smoke (and drink)

Better yet, raise both to 21. No teenage soldiers.

 

[ExVicis]

As someone who no longer smokes, I still do not support this. Having one become and adult legally at 18 yet still not trusted to do all these things simply makes no sense. If teen pregnancies are getting to high will California raise the age of consent to 21 to?

 

[entremet]

I hate tobacco and think it's a public health menace, but this is silly.

Prohibition doesn't work.

 

[olympia]

I hate tobacco and think it's a public health menace, but this is silly.

Prohibition doesn't work.

Actually, it does work in reducing consumption.

The idea that prohibition of substances "doesn't work" or is "pointless" because there will be a black market of people consuming drugs anyway is a line of thinking that can be applied to literally any prohibitive law, including but not limited to drug policy.

If cigarettes are a public health menace what sort of measures do you propose outside of legislation? Please don't say education, as if there's not already an obvious public effort.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Better yet, raise both to 21. No teenage soldiers.

Then you run into the issue of having a group of people who have graduated high school but are just spinning their wheels for 4 years before they can enlist.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Then you run into the issue of having a group of people who have graduated high school but are just spinning their wheels for 4 years before they can enlist.

There's plenty of other things they can do. Besides, boredom or unproductiveness is not a good reason to train children to kill and die.

 

[slit]

Forget smoking.

You either are an adult at 18 or your not. If you're not, that's fine and the law should reflect that when it comes to other things as well.

 

[minimumhippo]

Then you run into the issue of having a group of people who have graduated high school but are just spinning their wheels for 4 years before they can enlist.

I think this would be great actually. It would give them time to explore better options and not resort to the military so quickly.

 

[evilromero]

I'm not terribly much a fan of smoking, but I'm also not a fan of moving legal age to do certain activities up past legal adult age. If you can die for this country in war or get tried as an adult in court, I think you should be able to smoke (and drink)

You're comparing apples to oranges. There is no positive argument you can use to defend smoking other than personal join. The same cannot be said for joining the military or appearing in court. We should be celebrating any efforts to curb smoking. Not find ways to defend it by bringing up some strawman.